Booze, Drugs, Sex And Defying Death: The Incredible True Story Behind Chris Hemsworth's New Movie Rush

Rush will see Chris Hemsworth on screen as James Hunt, the fast living fast driving golden boy of Formula 1, but even with the Australian actor’s talents and Oscar winning director Ron Howard the film will struggle to do justice to its subject, the 1976 Formula 1 season.

That’s because it was one of the most extraordinary racing fans have ever witnessed, with booze, birds, political disputes and near death experiences. Lining up against Hunt was the dour Austrian Nikki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl), the antithesis of Hunt’s typical smooth talking English playboy.

Controversy began in Spain where Hunt was disqualified from first place, giving the win to Lauda, with the decision to be overturned on appeal months later.

Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt (Photo: Studio Canal)

Then there was the bizarre sight of a six wheeled car, the Tyrrell which won the next race in Sweden, consigning Ferrari's Lauda and McLaren's Hunt to third and fifth.

Hunt won in France and, in Britain, before being disqualified again and gifting the win to Lauda, with politics fraying relations between the drivers.

But the defining moment came in a moment where all the infighting paled into significance; with Lauda’s near death in a fire in a crash in West Germany.

Just 42 days after being given the last rites Lauda returned to the fray, finishing fourth in the Italian Grand Prix, an act of bravery verging on the mad.

"I said then and later that I had conquered my fear quickly and cleanly, that was a lie but it would have been foolish to play into the hands of my rivals by confirming my weakness. At Monza, I was rigid with fear," Lauda later wrote in his autobiography.

Battling back from his horrific injuries, Lauda led by three points before the final race in Japan.

Meanwhile Hunt was bedding women and boozing like few sportsmen before or since, making George Best look like a Franciscan monk by comparison.

Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as Nikki Lauda in Rush (Photo: Studio Canal)

According to a biography of the F1 legend by Tom Rubython, he spent the weeks preparing for the final race in Tokyo on a two-week alcohol, cocaine and cannabis binge, sleeping with tens of air stewardesses on his way to reportedly bedding with 5,000 women in his lifetime.

The antics didn’t even stop in the minutes before a race, with F1 team boss Patrick Head allegedly catching the playboy with his pants round his ankles minutes before he was due to go into battle for glory.

WATCH: The trailer for Rush

In dreadful weather, Lauda finally gave-up the race with Hunt finishing third to win one of sport’s most bizarre, dangerous and thrilling battles, now to be depicted on film.

The new movie already looks pretty epic, as you can see from the trailer, but with the truth so strange it may be difficult to do it justice in fiction.

One thing’s for sure, if Ron Howard’s film is to tell the truth of this incredible tale then Hemsworth may spend as much time in bed (or out of it) than in the cockpit.

PHOTOS: Pictures from Chris Hemsworth's new movie Rush

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